March 24, 2010

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland was recently named as one of the 20 most valuable college basketball programs in the nation by Forbes magazine.

Maryland was 13th on the list, with Forbes estimating the value of the program at $15.5 million.

Forbes based its rankings on what the programs contribute in four areas (in order of weight):

1. the value of contributions to the institution for academic purposes, including scholarships for basketball players;

2. the net profit generated by the basketball program retained by the athletics department;

3. the value contributed to conference peers via tournament revenue;

4. estimated direct spending by visitors to the county attributable to home basketball games.

According to Forbes, North Carolina topped the list at $29 million, followed by Kentucky at $26.2 million. Louisville, Kansas and Illinois rounded out the top five, followed by Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Syracuse, UCLA and Arizona.

The second ten were Duke, Wisconsin, Maryland, Arkansas. Xavier, Tennessee, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Michigan State and UNLV.

- dd -